The monsoon session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly began on Friday with Pramila Mallik assuming charge as the new Speaker of Odisha Legislative Assembly.

She has, thus, become the first Woman Speaker of the state Assembly.

Ahead of the beginning of the Assembly session, Pramila was elected unopposed to the post which was lying vacant following the resignation of Bikram Keshari Arukh on May 12. On May 23, Arukh was inducted into the ministry.

On Thursday, Pramila resigned from the post of minister, revenue and disaster management. The day was smooth for the newly elected Speaker Pramila with no unruly scenes being noticed. On the first day of the morning session, the House mourned the death of former Speaker Surya Narayan Patro who passed away on September 2.

In the afternoon, finance minister Bikram Keshari Arukh tabled a supplementary budget of Rs 28,200 crore for 2023-24 fiscal year.

The supplementary budget aims to fund various developmental projects and incomplete projects.

The supplementary project has allocated Rs 20,100 crore for various programmes of the government, Rs 2,864 towards administrative expenses and Rs 4,664 crore for calamity management fund. The rest was allocated for other purposes.